Might as well get used to it … the Card Revolution is here, in full force, and the insurrectionists have taken over pretty much everything. 3W's Modern Naval Battles, among others, showed just how popular this format could be, a maxim proven by GMT's three air games, and especially Rise of the Luftwaffe. Proof hath no greater advocate than Avalon Hill's embrace, and there is little doubt that there will be many offspring from this union in the year(s) to come. Some of the 2"x3" grist in the mill include rumors of WWII à la Magic, a Wyatt-Earp-based item tentatively called Wild West, something on building a Cathedral (for Ken Follet fans, one presumes), and a lesson in Crime Might Pay, Dillinger. Interesting roads AH is traveling these days. And speaking of revolutions, here we have Ye Olde Basic Banana Republic Revolution, complete in 128 cards and a bunch of somewhat extraneous counters, the latter included almost as if AH felt their constituents wouldn't buy it unless it had something other than cards. (The Up Front School of Marketing Theory.) Having dropped the ball, accompanied by a resounding thud, with the dismal Assassin, AH has achieved a fair amount of Redemption with Guerilla, a game that doesn't aspire to being much more than an hour or two of fun. Within that ascetically minimalist approach, it manages to achieve much of what it sets out to accomplish. This being almost entirely a card game, it is good to report that the 128 cards are some of the best AH has done. From the decidedly lush-green backgrounds, to the excellent graphics on each card, to the good use of color and geometric shapes to convey information, these are player-friendly, usable cards. So what if many of the insurrectionists look more Arabic than Latino; in the mind’s eye of the public in general, they’re probably one in the same anyway. The counters - which are more play aids than anything else - are handy and colorful. Parenthetically, one has to wonder why a company that publishes a game on Assassination in which children get killed (Assassin), or has a 2 inch atrocity counter complete with piles of skulls and bones (perhaps the official Tamerlane Memorial), has second thoughts about a game on the Black Plague as not being family-oriented enough.) Guerilla is a multi-player game; even more pointed, it’s best with 4, as, with 3 players, two tend to gang up on the third. Each player gets 8 cards to start out, while choosing his “Loyalty” from a cup: Government, Rebel or, if the number of players is odd, Mercenary (politically hermaphroditic, as it were). The cards are mostly Troops, Leaders, Complexes and “Event” cards, covering items like Traitors, Weather, special military operations, assassination attempts … the usual suspects one finds in Banana Republic warfare. Essentially, each player plays his cards against another player in an attempt to kill off his troops, capture/destroy his complexes (banks, radio stations, airfields, etc.), or subvert his personnel. The game’s object is to get the most Victory Points, and keeping track of these is one of the more complex aspects of what is otherwise a fairly simple system. All this would tend to get somewhat draggy, if it weren’t for the fact that there are lots of unusual cards, and that their interaction can be quite interesting. Each player gets to perform two “actions” per turn, with some minor (but telling) exceptions. He can (in order) Withdraw (take cards off the table and put them back into his hand), Attack, Deploy (put new cards out), Trade, Repair, or Draw new cards. How you want to spend your 2 points is pretty much the Strategy, as the resolution of any attacks is a function of dierolling. You plays your cards, you rolls your dice, you accepts your fate. Fortunately, it’s not that simple. There are enough “special cards” - UN Intervention, Informants, Atrocity Results and the Press, Assassins and Bodyguards, - to keep everyone on their toes. Moreover, while your basic troop cards are pretty much “what you sees is what you gets”, many of the more powerful cards (like Armored Columns) have built-in drawbacks. Knowing - and planning - when to not only use these, but when to reveal their availability, is the entrée for this plate of bananas. And, with four players, you will also have two Governmentos and two rebels, so there is a good chance that the former will team up against the latter, and vice versa. (In the odd-player game, the Mercenary goes either way, depending on how he perceives the wind to be blowing. Rest assured, he will usually jump on any bandwagon that seems to be forming, which will tend to make life very rough for the odd-man out.) Resolving attacks - the heart of the game - is a matter of totaling the points your attack group has and adding a dieroll. High total wins, and the loser removes cards equal in points to the difference. Leaders help their combat group, as do the play of such cards as Ambush (double strength, in general), Arms caches (also a strength aider), even Air strikes. The all important complexes have their own built-in defense factors, to which you can add garrisons. We found that what happens in an odd-player game is that Player A hits the garrison, and then the Mercenary takes out the Complex (or vice versa), and, even without this two-on-one situation, the complexes were not difficult to capture. Not having had the pleasure of a Nicaraguan Field Trip, I cannot vouch for the “accuracy’ of this. However, it does keep the game moving and in a constant state of flux. Guerilla is basically beer-and-pretzels stuff, which also means that it lends itself well to tournaments and what-do-we-play-now intervals between bouts of Proud Monster and La Bataille de Everything. Like the proverbial “old gentleman”, it’s clean (we had no questions, other than to question the stupidity of our play), and it’s neat. Thrilling, incisive and illuminating it ain’t. But that’s not what Mr. Shlaffer intended. (At least one hopes that’s not what he intended.) He wants you to have an hour or two of fun and a few laughs. Guerilla provides those, and it provides them in fairly classy manner. CAPSULE COMMENTS: Graphic Presentation: Excellent. One of the better, recent AHers. Playability: Good. Accessible system, fast play. No Solitaire. Replayability: Depends on how much you like the system. We did feel that there was a possibility of a sense of repetitiveness. Wristage: Little Creativity: Interesting, if not overwhelming. Historicity: Not bad, albeit generic. Comparisons: Not much in this field, but better than some recent AH card games. Overall: An unusual subject handled with some flair. Fun, if not overly involving. from AVALON HILL 128 Playing Cards, 1 sheet of various-sized counters, Rules Folder; boxed. TAHGC, Harford Road, Baltimore, MD. c.$30 Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. II # 15 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com